Even when a team makes it to the top ten, defeats Baylor among several other impressive opponents and lands in the top seven in BCS final rankings, they’re still not respected. That’s the case with the Kansas State Wildcats who are playing against Bobby Petrino’s Arkansas Razorbacks in the Cotton Bowl — the most prestigious bowl outside of the BCS four. Yet Bill Snyder’s team is still not taken seriously.
Jim Harris of Arkansas Sports writes, "So now, we come to this season’s Cotton Bowl, where the BCS standings reveal about as even a bowl matchup as any — next to the national championship game between LSU and Alabama — in No. 6 Arkansas and No. 8 Kansas State. Amazingly, another Hog bowl defeat and the all-time win percentage hits .333.
“We’re not certain the fan base can cotton to such a result. Surely a defeat to a barely-better-than-middling’ Big 12 team with leave a lot worse taste in Razorback fans’ mouths than the 31-26 Sugar Bowl loss to Ohio State did last year.”
That “barely better than middling” team took care of Robert Griffin and elevated themselves in a deeply competitive Big 12 to the top despite the lack of respect and five star recruits. Collin Klein is a Heisman candidate for next season in the making and Bill Snyder has his team playing together as well as anyone. It will be interesting to see how Snyder uses their under-the-radar stature in the game against Arkansas.
If anything, this is a chance on a national stage to prove some people wrong.